Can't Get You Out of My Mind
by Autruche
Summary: Ru/OC. A new girl appears in Rukawa's life. How does she change him? Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1 The Meeting

Can't Get You Out of My Mind

By Autruche

Chapter 1 – The Meeting

The raven-haired boy strolled down the street with a basketball in his arms, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings.  He was extremely tall, his body that of an athlete's, and his long legs carried him forward with a smooth elegance that made one think of…

*BANG!*

Rukawa Kaede had just crashed into a telephone pole.

'Should be more careful next time,' his sleep-fuddled, pain-filled brain warned him, before his eyelids drooped and the boy began to doze off once more.  However, as he neared his destination, the familiar sound of basketball slapping against concrete jolted him awake.  Faintly annoyed that there was already somebody using his favourite out-door court, Rukawa peered around the surrounding bushes to examine the intruder.  'He's going to have to find somewhere else to play,' he thought obstinately to himself, 'Because I don't share.'

But it was… a girl.

She had short, black hair, and was quite tall.  Her slender legs danced gracefully as she competed against an imaginary opponent.  Two quick bounces and a swivel, followed by a jump shot that produced nothing but net.  The fact that the unknown girl had beautiful, large brown eyes and a sweet smile was totally lost on Rukawa.  The only thing he noticed was that she had an excellent three-point shot, and was quick on her feet.  His own feet moved forward involuntarily, taking him to the side of the basketball court.

Hanging around the sidelines, as if waiting for the girl to notice him, Rukawa felt strangely self-conscious, and he almost reminded himself of one of his crazy, dancing, screaming, banner-waving fangirls.  He shuddered.  Well, almost.

Lost in his own grim thoughts, Shohoku High School's star player didn't realise that the girl had finished her game with her invisible friend, and her chocolate-brown gaze was fixed on him.  A light blush spread on Rukawa's pale cheeks before he could stop it, and she grinned, eyes sparkling with good-natured humour.  

"Hi!  Wanna play a little one-on-one?" she invited cheerfully.  Rukawa hesitated; he had planned to work on his (already perfect) outside shots this afternoon, since there were only two days left until the school year began again.  That meant soon he would be too busy sleeping in class and training after school everyday, leaving no time for individual practices.

On the other hand…

Hanamichi, who was now the captain of Shohoku, much to everyone's immediate regret ("Of course I was chosen to be captain!  Ore wa Tensai!  Mwahaha!"), had been too busy these holidays with his summer job (the noble and selfless career of selling ice-creams on the beach), and so the two friends had been unable to play against each other as often as they would've liked.  Those cut-throat, dead-serious competitions were what usually tided Rukawa over until the next basketball season.  Without them, he was feeling rather–

"I didn't know that my question was going to provoke such intense self-contemplation," the girl commented dryly.  "But if you don't wanna play… suit yourself."

She turned, preparing to leave, and for some strange reason unknown to him, Rukawa panicked.  He didn't want her to go!  

Suddenly, she looked over her shoulder and stared at him curiously.  A smile played around the corners of her mouth.

"You don't want me to go?" she asked, lips twitching as if she was desperately trying to hold back a laugh.  

Ugh.  Mental slap.  He had blurted the words out loud.  There was no stopping the crimson splash that covered his entire face, and which felt like was spreading all over his body, too.  'I probably look like a tomato,' Rukawa thought disgustedly.  'And not just any old tomato… the ugliest, most deformed one you could possibly find.'

"Uh… I meant, yeah, let's play a game," he mumbled, once again feeling self-conscious with her eyes on his red face.  With some effort, he managed to force his blush to subside, and set his features back into its usual cold mask.  The intimidatingly tall, athletic boy strode on to the court like he owned it, and the girl couldn't help marvelling over his transformation from a blushing, awkward teenager to a confident and clearly talented player.  However, blushing or not, he was definitely a gorgeous, drool-inducing specimen of mankind.  Even if he didn't talk much.

"First to ten, ne?"

At his slight nod of confirmation, they began to play.  Rukawa was surprised to discover that although his height and weight gave him an obvious advantage, she was able to penetrate his defence several times due to her speed.  In fact, she reminded him of his former captain, the infinitely skilful Ryota Miyagi.

However, despite the dark-haired girl's hard work, the result was already decided before their impromptu game began.  Rukawa won 10-6, which, to him, simply meant that he needed more match practice to get into shape.  She was gracious in defeat, though, and when they shook hands, to his complete and utter embarassment, his face reddened yet again.

'Why am I acting like the do'aho all of a sudden?  This is ridiculous!' a totally clueless (and blushing) Rukawa thought, confused at his apparent inability to control his emotions around this girl, who was around seven inches shorter than him and only a fraction of his weight.  He watched as she efficiently gathered her belongings, and sauntered away with a cheery little wave.

Turning to collect his own things, an errant thought dawned on the raven-haired boy.

'I didn't even ask her for her name…'


	2. Chapter 2 The TryOuts

Chapter 2 – The Try-outs

"Rukawa Kaede!  Wake up this instant!  How dare you fall asleep in my class, and on the first day of school, too?!  Rukawa!  Are you even listening to me…?!"

The dark-haired boy, seated at the back of the room due to his height, felt a none-too-subtle nudge (which almost sent him flying off his chair) coming from the direction of his friend and captain, Sakuragi Hanamichi.

"Oi, Kitsune, looks like the teacher's gonna burst a blood vessel," the redhead 'whispered'.  Of course, the whole room heard him, and had to hide their snickers behind their textbooks as Hanamichi dug into his pockets and grumbled, "Dammit!  I was so sure that I would win.  Baka Kitsune!  This is a whole week's wages…"

The two boys had obviously made a bet to see who would be the first to irritate the teacher.  Which Rukawa had just won.

Unfortunately for the bored third year class, the two basketballers were relatively obedient for the remainder of the day, except for the occasional exclamation from the back of the room ("Eww, Kitsune!  You're drooling all over the desk!").  As soon as the final bell rang, students poured out of their classrooms and the previously empty corridors were bursting with chatter and laughter.

The star players of Shohoku's basketball team were the last to leave the room, as they had plenty of time before the annual team try-outs were due to begin.  Strolling towards the gym (and falling asleep while doing so), Rukawa managed to arrive there in one piece solely thanks to Hanamichi, who prevented him from walking into a wall, falling down the stairs and tripping over a stray baseball (which the intimidating redhead had hurled back at a frightened second-year player).

"Kitsune… what would you do without me?"  Sigh.

"Do'aho," was the cold response.

"Teme, Kitsune…!"

This old and, as always, extremely loud argument was still being carried out as the two tall, athletic boys entered the gym.  They paused for a moment to savour the familiar sight and comforting, musky smell of their favourite place in the whole world.  Within these walls, fights had been fought, champions had been formed… and most importantly, friends had been made.

"It's good to be back, ne?" Hanamichi remarked softly, his earlier anger at his friend totally forgotten.

"Hn."

The large, square building was already quite packed with students, all eager to take a look at the new line-up of the basketball team, the all-conquering National Champions of the previous year.  Nervous first-years lined up to greet the captain, who grinned arrogantly and unwittingly caused nearby fangirls to swoon, pink hearts in their eyes.  Rukawa sighed imperceptibly, rolling his eyes at the do'aho's behaviour.  In any case, he reflected, as he leaned against a wall and surveyed the young hopefuls, he didn't mind staying out of the spotlight.  After all, he did all his talking on the court.

"Fancy meeting you here," a vaguely familiar voice greeted cheerfully.

Startled out of his reverie, the raven-haired boy spun around to find himself face-to-face (or rather, eye-to-eye) with the deep, melted-chocolate-brown gaze that had been at the back of his mind for the past three days.

"Sukinami-san, you didn't tell me that you knew Rukawa-san."

He almost winced at the sound of _that_ voice, but just managed to control himself.  Strange.  He always seemed to have this sort of knee-jerk reaction around Akagi Haruko, the team's new manager after the departure of the infamous, fan-wielding Ayako.  Maybe it was a hangover from the days when the petite girl would follow him around with stars in her eyes, not unlike the ear-splitting fangirls who were drooling over Hanamichi right now.  Of course, the younger sister of the "Gori" had long since had a change in heart, and now had a massive crush on the redheaded captain.  The greatest irony was, Hanamichi had also lost interest in _his_ first-year crush, and his one and only true love had become… yep, basketball.

"Haruko-chaaan!  I thought I told you to call me Ami, ne?" the tall, dark-haired girl admonished her new friend mischievously.  Turning back to the boy beside her with a friendly smile, "So _you're_ Rukawa Kaede… I've heard a lot about you.  If I'd known who you were, I wouldn't have felt so bad about losing to you the other day!"

At that compliment, along came that blasted blush (another involuntary reaction which Rukawa found himself hating).  

'Why does this keep happening to me?' he fumed to himself.  'I will not blush… I will not blush… I will not blush…'

While he was busy ordering his rebellious body  to behave, Ami was giving Haruko a brief explanation of how they had met a few days ago, only to be interrupted by…

"Ami-chan!" the loud yell was the only warning Ami received before the red blur that was Sakuragi Hanamichi launched at her, wrapped her up in his arms and swung her around in a crazy circle.

"Hana-kun!" she laughed delightedly, as Rukawa and Haruko both looked on enviously.  Hanamichi, completely unaware of the many surprised and curious glances he was receiving from all over the gym, began to chatter excitedly.

"When did you come to Kanagawa?  Why didn't you call me?  What are you doing here?"

Head spinning, from the hug she had received as well as the rapid questions, Ami decided to answer them in the same order that they had shot out of Hanamichi's mouth.

"I arrived in Kanagawa last week.  I didn't call you 'cos I wanted this to be a surprise, and a pleasant one, I hope!  And as for why I'm here… I'm a Shohoku High student now, Hana-kun."


	3. Chapter 3 A Tensai's Dream

Chapter 3 – A Tensai's Dream

"Your cousin?  You never told me you had a cousin." 

"What's it to you, Kitsune?  And anyways, Ami-chan used to live in Australia, which is why I haven't seen her for years."

The two basketballers were walking home after the yearly try-outs.  Night was descending upon them, and as they strolled along the path, lights began to switch on inside the houses that they passed.  The street lights flickered hesitantly, before shining a bright trail down the street.  

"Hana."

"Nani?"

"What do you think about these first-years?"

"There's some talent there… did you notice that kid Sagara?  184 cm, not bad for a 15 year-old."

"Hn."

At this point, they arrived at Rukawa's home, and without another word, the raven-haired boy proceeded through the gate and into his apartment building.  Hanamichi shook his head at his friend's retreating back and sighed tolerantly, long used to this kind of treatment.

"Bye, Kitsune."

The tall redhead continued down the path, whistling his Tensai song absent-mindedly as he walked.  He knew that Kaede didn't mean to act so cold and… well, _silent_ all the time.  It's just that the other boy had difficulty showing his emotions; not because he didn't have any, but possibly because he felt too _much_.  

"Well, I don't have that problem!  But of course I don't, I'm the Tensai!  Mwahahaha!"

After that sudden, loud outburst, which drew wary looks from passers-by who swerved to avoid this redheaded lunatic, Hanamichi's thoughts wandered away from his dark-haired friend, to the sudden reappearance of his cousin.  

He could hardly believe that his Ami-chan was now a fully-grown young woman of sixteen.  The last time they had seen each other, she had still been wearing frilly pink dresses, with her long, shiny hair in adorable pig-tails.  Although that hair was now cropped short and she had grown at least 20 cm, he would still recognise that heart-shaped face and those chocolate-brown eyes, so similar to his own, anywhere.  

Hanamichi's mind, with a will of its own, then wandered even further, to its favourite topic of thought: basketball.  In fact, if the redhead's mind were to wander any more, it would probably fall off the face of the earth, so he stuck to this subject and hung on for dear life.  But the nagging thought that was constantly lingering in the back of his wandering mind, and had been all summer, was that he and Kaede were third-years now.  This was their last chance of playing high school basketball, and hopefully attracting the attention of the university scouts.

He knew that he had tasted success before; after all, they had won the National Championship last year, hadn't they?  They had swept the floor with Kainan, Shoyo, Ryonan, Sannoh and the rest.  

But it was different.  This year, everything was different.  Because this year, Hanamichi was the captain.  And he now had immense responsibilities that he alone had to carry on his broad shoulders.  Even though it was only the start of the year, he was already beginning to feel a respect for Akagi Takenori and Ryota Miyagi that he never had before now.

They had led their teams through tough battles, always ready to be the first to jump into the fray.  They had pushed and wheedled, and, in the Gori's case, even tutored the team into becoming the smooth, unparalleled champions they were now.  And most of all, they had taken a brash, over-confident beginner under their wing, and transformed him into the star player that he was today.

And for that, Sakuragi Hanamichi would always be grateful.

"We'll win the National Championship again this year!  'Cos I am the Tensai, and the Tensai never lies!"


End file.
